


Bonds As Thick As Blood

by FurryRefuse



Category: Furry (Fandom), Zootopia (2016)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-19
Updated: 2021-02-08
Packaged: 2021-03-18 05:00:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,533
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28861452
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FurryRefuse/pseuds/FurryRefuse
Summary: Michael Furrst, a ZPD officer, is called to a burglary which ends looking more like a kidnapping. While finding clues to piece together the truth, he begins to see signs that it all ties into a past that he wishes to forget. A past that has kept him up at night even on medication. Officers Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde begin to suspect that Michael isn't all he seems as they gradually uncover the mystery. So Michael not only must confront a past he has attempted to run from for years, but also keep the trust of his fellow officers as he falls into the middle of a conspiracy that plans on bringing the city of Zootopia to it's knees.
Comments: 2





	1. Chapter 1

_ Beeeeeeeeeeee! _

I shot up from my bed to the ear splitting sound from my radio going off. My drowsiness made it more difficult to search for my radio. Thankfully I was trying to make it a habit of setting it on my nightstand so it was within reaching distance. I patted my paw down on the nightstand and found my radio and picked it up. I pressed the button on the side to begin to speak.

“Y-yeah?” I spoke into the radio, still half asleep. I then attempted to stifle a yawn but ultimately failed.

“Michael. There was a break in at Wombat Hardware. We’re gonna need you to come on down to help with the investigation,” I heard the deep growl of Chief Bogo’s voice. 

“Roger that, Chief. I’ll be there in a few minutes,” I answered back and just dropped my radio onto my bed. I had to sit there for a minute and rub my eyes. I yearned to go back to sleep but unfortunately, duty called. And so I had to answer it. 

I got up from my bed and drowsily walked over to my closet to put on my uniform. Sometimes I wished to show up to work in something that was more comfortable for me. But every officer had to look their best and be professional so I was required to wear the uniform. And after a few minutes of still fighting off my weariness, I was now fully dressed.

I was prepared to leave when I had gotten a glance over at my pill bottle as I passed through the kitchen of my studio apartment. I stopped myself from trying to leave and walked up to the bottle. I picked it up and observed it again for, probably, the thousandth time. I read the label, which had my name, Michael Furrst, and the medicine that the bottle contained.

_ Prazosin _ .

I knew that nothing on the label would change but I longed for it to do so. But if I didn’t then… how would I be able to cope with myself. The doctor said that it was important to take these every night before I slept, which I had been doing. But regardless, I still yearned for my treatment to just be over. Or for my past to be changed. But I knew that only one of those options was available for me. And the chances of me fully recovering were most likely slim to none.

I shook off the pang of sadness I could feel growing in my chest. I reminded myself that I had a job to do. There had been a break in at the hardware store nearby my apartment. And I was a cop. So it would be best if I start feeling sorry for myself and get on with my job. Besides, having the chief harping on my ass would be a pain to deal with alone. I put the pill bottle back down on the kitchen counter, continued to my apartment’s door, grabbed my keys, and left for the crime scene

***

I approached the scene of the crime on my personal street bike. After parking and getting off, I was able to get a good observation of the scene. About four officers were already here, conducting an investigation of the area by asking questions. I could see lights flashing and swinging around from inside the building so that meant an investigation team was already here too. I walked up to the hardware store and out step two of the officers. Officers Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde. Go figure. I got their attention by clearing my throat.

“So, how severe is it?” I asked them to just get straight to the point, avoiding small talk. 

“Well… turns out it’s a burglary,” Judy was the first to answer my question. Nick just nodded in confirmation. “However, the only things that we could see missing were some building supplies. No money gone at all from the safe or register.”

“Which is strange since it’s usually always about the money,” Nick added on to what Judy had told me. Which he was absolutely right. Anytime we got a call from someone because of a burglary, money or valuables were taken. But screws that are like .80 cents a piece? Doesn’t make any sense to me either.

“That’s odd. Why would someone steal stuff that would ultimately end up being less than the money in the whole store?” I couldn’t help but ask this question to both officers.

“Maybe a building project? Shit if I know,” Nick responded. That was my same exact response too. And judging by Judy looking off in the distance with a puzzled look, that was hers as well. Though I had another question that kept coming up in my mind.

“Anyways, was anyone able to get any information out of witnesses?”

“Well we were able to get a couple witnesses that had gone looking around after the break in. But nobody that had actually seen it happen,” Judy answered my question. So witness accounts wouldn’t be of any help here. 

“What about cameras? There has to be at least one in there,” I remembered hearing that stores were required to have at least one camera that was overlooking the entrance in the academy. 

“Nothing,” Nick put plainly. “I mean, there is a camera that catches the whole area, including the entrance and front counter. But when we tried watching the footage, it was wiped clean. Like someone had taken the footage,” That presented even more problems and questions. Why would this person need to take the footage? I mean, obviously to hide their identity but how’d they find where it would be? Someone had been planning this out for a good amount of time in order to be this careful not to be caught. 

I looked down the watch on my wrist.  _ 6:36 am _ . If it was past six am then the owner of this store had to be coming some time soon. I’ve been here before I was on the force, and the opening time here was at six thirty in the morning. Usually he was in the store by six twenty at the latest. 

“The store owner should've been here by now," I commented on the circumstances. "Has any of your witnesses seen the store owner open up or at least go into the store?" 

"Not that I recall. No one has seen anyone go into this store since yesterday," Judy replied. "All we know is that yesterday the store was fine. And now it was broken into. That's it"

Nick butted in with his own question. “Why do you wanna know about the owner?” That question was totally reasonable to ask as they likely didn’t know the owner as well as I did. 

“He’s a wombat. Usually would be here by now since it’s past six thirty in the morning,” I answered what I knew to Nick’s question.

“Does this store open at six thirty?” Judy answered on what sounded like impulse more than anything.

“Yeah. And the owner, he’s never been late for opening,” I informed the both of them while looking around. I felt my ears swivel around to try to pick up the slightest sounds I could hear. My tail flicked impatiently. “Something does feel right about this. Did you guys search everywhere?”

“Uh, yeah we did,” Nick retorted. “You want to say that we can’t do our jobs right?”

“What? No, no no. It’s just… What did the back of the store look like?”

“Just the office and storage for the supplies that are sold here.”

“What about the dumpsters?”

“Dumpsters? Why would we need to search the dumpsters?” I stopped looking around and then looked right at Judy and Nick.

“For a body,” And after that answer, I slipped past Judy and Nick into the store. I marched towards the back of the store with determination. Past the front counter and past the multiple shelves. My mind started flooding with flashbacks to other bodies that I had seen in my life. Some peaceful. Other brutal. But they were still all bodies just in the same. And they all brought me back to the same place. To the same mammal.

I opened the back door of the hardware store, looking around to see the dumpster off to my right. I marched with the same determination that I had inside the store. I could hear Nick and Judy racing through the back door right behind me. But then I focused all my attention back to the two dumpsters that stood in front of me. I tried to get the lid of the first dumpster open but I was too short so I managed to get Nick and Judy to help me open it. And we looked inside to see nothing there. We moved onto the next dumpster and repeated our method to open that one. Also nothing in it.

“Damnit!” I shouted in frustration. I was so sure that we would find the body of the owner inside the dumpsters. “I was so fucking sure!”

“Hey hey, easy now Michael,” Judy did her best to soothe me. “Maybe your suspicions were just off and he had gone to a hospital or somewhere else?” Her question did bring the doubt now that the owner had actually made it out of the break in and gone somewhere else. But all the clues that I had picked up in that short of a time seemed to point me to my conclusion.

“Yeah… maybe you’re right. Probably thought the worse happened,” I replied to Judy’s question as I was calming down. But before I could fully ease myself, Nick got our attention.

“Hey uh… what’s this look like to you guys?” Nick pointed out that there was a trail of drops and small smears on the blacktop that was travelling nearby. Upon a closer look, the trail had led from the back door and suddenly stopped soon after about ten feet across the ground. All three of us tracked the trail back into the store and found out that it led into a janitorial closet that had been hidden behind some stacked boxes.

I opened the door and noticed where the blood trail originated from. Some small pools of blood where it looks like a fight, more like a beating, took place. And what did my eyes rest on the back side of the door. A signature writing of the letter “V”.


	2. Chapter 2

“So you never found him?” Chief Bogo’s question echoed in through my head. Ever since we had returned back to the station, we had been trying to wrap our minds around what we had seen. Stolen building supplies, a trail of blood, and that damned letter on the back of the closest door. The letter “V”. Written in the same blood that had made the trail out behind the hardware store. Judy hadn’t stopped pacing back and forth across the floor of the bullpen ever since everyone left. And Nick looked troubled. As if something was eating away at his consciousness since we had discovered the scene. 

“What kind of monster would do something so damn… brutal?” Nick finally broke the hour long silence that had been hanging in the air. 

“Another question is, why would they wanna kidnap a hardware store owner?” Judy questioned almost to herself. “Only person I could think of would be Mr. Big but… I don’t know how that letter would tie into him.” And the simple answer is that it wouldn’t. There was no way Mr. Big could’ve been this thorough if he was behind this kidnapping. 

“No, I don’t think it was him,” I simply responded to Judy’s question. Both Judy’s head and Nick’s head turned to me. 

“How in the hell would you know?” Nick must’ve had some questions arise just from my one statement. Which I imagine that I would too if the roles were switched. 

“Things just don’t add up. Like… The letter “V”. The blood trail. No money missing. That doesn’t seem to be like him. I mean, he’s a crime boss don’t get me wrong. But just, it seems like the scene was left too messy for Mr. Big’s liking,” I explained my points to them. Which I felt were all valid points to make as he didn’t like to leave things messy. All that I could see in response was Judy nodding, her ear twitched in frustration. 

“Once the media gets ahold of this, it’s gonna be a fucking mess,” That was all that came out of her mouth. Nick cracked a little smile.

“Well, if I’ve learned anything Carrots, it’s that we don’t let you answer questions the media has,” Nick teased. Judy slugged him in the arm, perhaps harder to ensure that Nick shut up as he did move over, rubbing the spot where she hit him. 

“Well, the Chief’s gonna want an idea of how we go one with this investigation,” I moved the subject back on track. “So… any ideas?”

“Testing that blood at the scene. I know we had some samples brought back as evidence. Figure out who exactly was kidnapped,” Nick replied almost instantly. Judy nodded in agreement.

“Agreed. Then from there we can go investigate their home. Find out if anyone could’ve had a vendetta against this wombat,” Judy furthered the first step of the plan that Nick had brought up. I gave them a thumbs up to signal that I was also in agreement. 

“Well, guess I’ll tell the big man our plan then. See you two around,” I finished up our conversation and began to walk out of the bullpen. Which I made my way across the main lobby area. It never got old to see how high the structure was from here. Being able to see up to the third floor made me feel quite small. But that didn’t bother me in the slightest.

“Oh, hey Michael!” I heard a voice off from my right. And there was only one mammal in this whole building whose voice would be that cheerful. Clawhauser.

I turned my head to look at him. Sure enough, he had that big contagious smile across his pudgy face. It was always a nice sight to see, but I couldn’t sit around a chat. I had to get moving to the chief’s office.

“Sorry Clawhauser but I can’t talk right now. I gotta go see the Chief,” I stated and turned around to start walking again. Clawhauser’s smile dropped some but not fully.

“That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. The Chief seemed very adamant to see you,” Clawhauser informed me. This came off as surprising because I didn’t have it relayed to me. “Said, something that happened out at the Zootopia Corrections Institute. Apparently there was a break out.” That information stopped me in my tracks. I turned back around and ran to Clawhauser’s desk.

“Wait, what? What break out? I never heard about anything like that on the news today,” I told Clawhauser. “You think the networks would be all over something like this.”

“I know. I thought the same thing. But there hasn’t been anything on the news about it. If you ask me, I think they wanna keep it under wraps,” Clawhauser practically whispered the last part. I couldn’t help but smile at his comment.

“Yes I do believe they do Clawhauser,” I patted him on his shoulder with my paw. “But thanks. All the more reason to get the Chief quickly. See you around.” I concluded the conversation and began my way back to the escalators to get the Chief’s office.

“Okay. See you around buddy!” Clawhauser said and went back to his duties. He could get easily excited and honestly I found it to be adorable. But anyways, I was getting off track. I stepped onto the escalator and began to ascend up to the third floor where the Chief’s office was.

When arriving outside of his office, I gave two knocks. “Come in,” I heard the Chief's deep, rumbling voice from inside. I opened the door and walked inside, closing the door behind me.

“You wanted to see me sir?” I started off by asking a pretty usual question for anyone that steps into his office.

“Yes,” Chief Bogo confirmed. He motioned to one of the chairs that stood in front of his desk. “Please, sit down Michael.” I did as he said and climbed into the chair that he motioned to. Once I sat down, Chief Bogo took off his glasses, putting them onto the table. “I’m sure you don’t know but… there was a break out at the ZCI.” I did know now but didn’t say anything to avoid getting Clawhauser in trouble. “But are you aware of anyone that could escape from ZCI?”

“No, sir. I don’t believe I’m aware of anyone in there that would,” I answered the Chief’s question with honesty.

“Well, I’m not sure if you know about the death row inmate, Vengo Tamp. He was the one who escaped. There’s also evidence that he had accomplices that helped him.” When hearing that name, I swore that my heart had skipped a beat. I could feel my eyes widen, ears become more erect, and fur stand on end.

“Wait, you mean to tell me Vengo Tamp,  _ the _ Vengo Tamp, broke out of prison?” I could feel the urge to stand on my chair.

“Yes. That is exactly what I’m saying,” Chief Bogo responded.

“Do they know where he is? Please tell me that they know.”

“No, unfortunately they do not.”

“Why the hell not!?” I didn’t realize my voice had raised almost to a shout. And now I was standing on my chair.

“Michael, sit back down and calm yourself!” The Chief raised his own voice. I felt my ears flatten as I sat back down in my chair. I knew that raising my voice like that at the Chief was a death wish, but I still wanted my question answered. Because at this point, I could feel memories seeping back into my mind. Memories of dark rooms, tool trays, and blood. Too much blood for me to handle. 

“Michael? Michael. Micheal!” I heard the Chief’s voice break my thoughts. I must’ve been staring off into space and didn’t realize it. I shook my head in an attempt to clear it and looked back to the Chief. “As I was saying, no they don’t know. And as someone who has had a run in with Vengo in the past, I figured I should run this by you. Just to make sure that you’re warned about it. You’re free to leave now.” Chief Bogo finished up and dismissed me. I didn’t say a word about the plan that Judy, Nick, and I made. Just got off the chair and walked out of the office.

I proceeded to ride the escalators downstairs back to the ground floor. I walked up to Clawhauser at his reception desk. He noticed me coming and I could see his contagious smile again. But I didn’t smile at all.

“So, how’d it go?” Clawhauser asked me, wanting details. All I did was look up at him with my emotionless face.

“Could you clock me out early today?” I asked Clawhauser. He seemed a little taken aback by my response.

“Why? Was it that bad?” Clawhauser’s expression began to look worried. 

“No no, it’s just… I think I’ll take the rest of the day off today. Stress from this case, y’know?” I tried to make up some bullshit excuse so I didn’t have to bring anything up to Clawhauser.

“Oh… yeah sure. I’ll make sure to clock you out,” Clawhauser turned back to his desk computer. “Well, have a pleasant rest of your day, Michael.”

“Thanks Clawhauser. You too,” I gave my farewell and began to walk to the exit of the building. As I exited the building to go home, I still could not shake the thought of Vengo running free. My mind jumped between fanthoming that thought and my earlier brief flashbacks. No matter how much I tried to shake them, they refused to leave. The whole way back to my apartment. 

When reaching my apartment, I walked inside and instantly was at my kitchen counter to search for my medication. But it wasn’t where I had left it this morning. I looked around for it on the floor, thinking that it could’ve fallen from the counter. It wasn’t anywhere there either.

“Where did I put those fucking pills?” I asked myself.

“You mean these?” I heard a voice come up behind me. I whipped around to see a figure towering above me. I saw this figure drop a pill bottle to the floor. My pill bottle.

“Who in the shit-” I was interrupted as I felt a jab in my neck. The jab lasted for a few seconds but began to feel woozy quickly after it. I was losing my balance and fell to the floor. 

“It’s me, Michael,” I heard the figure say to me. “You’re old pal Vengo.”


End file.
